Since the Wreck (OPEN)

[Desmond Giuseppe]

It was the morning after Josh had broken up with Desmond. He'd spent the night at Garrett's for fear of what would happen if he was left alone. He looked like shit; he hadn't bothered to do his hair that morning so it was all matted and sticking out at odd angles like he'd just rolled out of bed, which he had. He also had skipped the eyeliner that morning, but it was replace by dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep he'd gotten the previous night. He'd been up the whole night silently sobbing to himself. At around 4 am he used Garrett's phone to call Audrey. After flipping out on him for a half hour about not telling her anything, she actually offered him sound advise; with Josh gone he had less to worry about. When he was with Josh he was miserable all the time and that's not how you should feel when you're in love. She told him he was better off and Desmond couldn't help but agree with her. Without Josh he was able to focus on his problems with Prudence. He couldn't let GSA down because he was having personal problems, he was stronger than that. He also missed the person he once was; out going and happy. That's what made him so likable, his personality and he had a feeling he was going to need it if he wanted to beat Prudence.

Even though Desmond was recovering emotionally he was still a wreck physically from the lack of sleep. He looked like absolute death and he knew it. He just had to get through this day of school then come in looking fresh and normal tomorrow. He trudged over to his locker, blinking hard to keep himself awake as he slowly tried his combination which he couldn't seem to remember. . .

[cynthia]

Cynthia woke up bright and early, hoping to find some extra time to straighten her hair. She did, and it looked a little better than when she had first woken up that morning... but not a whole lot better. She really did hate her hair most of the time, and wondered why she didn't just chop it all off. That would certainly make it easier to manage. Or at least give her less to manage. Either way...

She spotted Desmond by his locker, and could tell by his sagging posture that something wasn't right. She made her way over to him and noticed that he seemed to have forgotten his locker combination.

"24, 9, 18," she said, eying her friend up and down. "Is everything alright?" she was afraid that he might be slipping back into a state of depression or something... she wasn't sure exactly how things like that worked, but she knew that he had tried to kill himself once... so she wanted to make sure that he wasn't heading down the same path again. She was just concerned. He didn't look well at all, but maybe he was just sick. Sick she could deal with.

[Desmond Giuseppe]

"Thank you." said Desmond after Cynthia help him with his locker combination. He was glad to see her. He almost saw Cynthia as his crutch in situations like this; she always knew corrected him when he wasn't thinking straight, whether it was his locker combination, or he'd turned down the wrong hallway to get to class. He saw her as his personal Hermione and he liked that.

"Is everything alright?"

Desmond sighed. "Well, my boyfriend, who I know I never told you about, broke up with me last night." Desmond began. He was sick of lying about everything, especially to his friends. He knew if he came clean about everything that had been bothering him the past couple weeks he's feel better, even if the word some how go to Prudence. He was perfectly capable of defending himself. Plus he was so tired that he didn't care who knew anymore.

"He was 27, had AIDS, and was homeless. He'd been living with me the last few weeks with my parents under the impression that he was straight." Desmond took a deep breath before continuing, "I cheated on him a few weeks ago and we had a horrible fight and that's why I had my accident. . . Last night he broke up with me and I spent the night at Garrett's house crying all night in his bed." He stopped to give Cynthia a moment to take this all in. "I'm telling you this because I think you need to know. ((HAHA)) I'm sorry I never told you. . . it just seemed easier to lie about everything."

[cynthia]

"You're welcome," Cynthia told him, leaning against the locker next to Desmond's. She spent a lot of time in between classes leaning against that locker, so she didn't mind. The girl who it belonged to was nice about it.

Cynthia knew that something was wrong, but what it was she just couldn't tell. She also didn't know if Desmond was going to tell her what was wrong. He had been acting a little odd lately, more so than usual, and some of those times she could sense a distinct secretive nature about him. She knew that if he wanted to he would tell her in his own time.

Now was that time.

"Well, my boyfriend, who I know I never told you about, broke up with me last night. He was 27, had AIDS, and was homeless. He'd been living with me the last few weeks with my parents under the impression that he was straight. I cheated on him a few weeks ago and we had a horrible fight and that's why I had my accident. . . Last night he broke up with me and I spent the night at Garrett's house crying all night in his bed."

Wow. Desmond paused, giving her time that was much needed to let everything sink in. Twenty-seven?! She wasn't sure that any amount of time would be sufficient for all of that to make sense in her mind. She opened her mouth to says something but shut it again. She had to collect her thoughts. How was she supposed to react to that? Luckily for her, Desmond continued, so she was spared having to respond for a few more moments.

"I'm telling you this because I think you need to know. ((HAHA)) I'm sorry I never told you. . . it just seemed easier to lie about everything."

"It's... I..." at first Cynthia wanted to be angry at him for not telling her. How the hell was she supposed to help him and be a good friend if she didn't know MAJOR things like that were going on in his life? Still, the second she looked up at his face any possible anger that she might have felt melted away. She could tell that he was really hurting, and the last thing he needed was for her to lecture him.

"Oh, Desmond," she started, exasperatedly throwing her arms around him. "I had no idea... are you okay? Do you need anything? What can I do?"

It was just like Cynthia to put her own feelings aside like that...

[Desmond Giuseppe]

Desmond was expecting Cynthia to yell at him, possibly give him a smack on the arm. He was relieved that she had hugged him instead. It felt good to be hugged. She was the first person to give him a hug since Josh broke up with him and he loved hugs. It felt so good to get it all off his chest and he was glad that Cynthia was handling it well. He just hoped everyone would be an understanding as her and Garrett.

"I'm fine Cyn." said Desmond. In all honestly, he was becoming more and more ok with the break up. Yes, he had loved Josh, but in the end he was never really happy being with him. It would be best for him to find someone his age who wasn't homeless, didn't have AIDS, and wasn't so needy and demanding. "I thought about it a lot and I think I'm better off. I mean, now I don't have to constantly worry about Josh right? I can focus on other things like school and GSA. . . Oh! I haven't gotten the chance to tell you." Desmond quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening.

"Prudence is totally buying that Garrett and Faye are on her side!" said Desmond in a hush whisper, "He told me that they plan to try to keep me away from you because you keep everything organized and without you GSA would go to shit. I told Garrett that this could defiantly be troublesome, but I don't think as devastating as Prudence would like it to be. But I am pretty much a wreck without you in terms of the club so we're gonna try to not let Prudence keep us apart, ok?"

[cynthia]

Cynthia was glad that she decided not to be angry with Desmond, because he really needed some love and reassurance right now. She made sure that it was an extra-tight hug. She just wanted to be a good friend and be there for him right now.

Despite the fact that he said he was fine, Cynthia wasn't too sure she believed him. He didn't seem as upset as he could have been, though. She supposed that she had to trust him, though. At least he wasn't crying, which showed that he had at least come to terms with what had happened even if it might still bother him.

"Okay. I believe you... but if you ever need to talk, please, you can come to me. You know, if you're ever decide you're not fine."

She listened as Desmond talked about Garrett and Faye, and she was immensely grateful for the good news. The good news about their spies, that was. Then the horrible news about Prudence trying to tear her and Desmond apart to destroy the GPA.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Just so long as poor Garrett and Faye can keep up appearances, then this should go over alright. "And even if they manage to separate us some how, I'll make sure I always keep up with the club, just in case. We've got the upper hand here, because we're the ones who have something to lose. There's no way Prudence and her clones can get to us."

[Desmond Giuseppe]

Desmond nodded in agreement with Cynthia. He was glad he had quickly changed the subject to GSA rather than continue talking about what was going on with him. The problems with GSA and Prudence, as crappy as they may be, were a good distraction from his personal life.

"I knew you'd be able to handle this." said Desmond, "I still don't understand how they can possibly think they'll be able to keep you away from me all the time, though. I know not all the ACS kids are a persistent as Prudence and her inner circle. . . " Desmond was surprised he was thinking so clearly after a night of little to no sleep.

"Ok, we need to start concentrating on how this drag show is going to work." Desmond began. He wanted to take advantage of Cynthia being there with no bible beaters in sight. "Audrey told me her gayer father has already booked the Gay and Lesbian center for us. We got it for free because he's the head of the board," and what a fabulous head of the board he was. Being a Drag Queen himself, Desmond was sure Mr. Kensington had no problem letting them use the GLC, in fact he was probably more excited than half of GSA. "So that's one less thing for us to worry about. We've been hanging up fliers on Liberty Avenue and have gotten a few donations from some of a shops. What have you been up to?" Desmond asked out of curiosity. It was hard enough for him to keep track of all the shit he was doing let alone what other people were doing.

[cynthia]

"It'll be impossible. Even if they manage to keep us apart physically somehow, there's the internet, and cell phones... I mean, we'll always be able to communicate. I think that whole threat is empty. They're just trying to scare us... there isn't a thing they can do to break this up," she reassured him, before listening to the plans he had already been making for the show.

"Alright, getting a place for free was good, because we get to keep all of the profits this way," she agreed. "I've been trying to use some of my connections with the girls in the Colorguard and the Lacrosse team to try and gain more school-wide support. Getting the community involved is great, but it's very important that the students here back us up and get their parents to back us up. If the club's existance comes down to a school board vote or something like that, then we'll need people directly involved with the school." Cynthia, though not exactly 'popular' by the technical definition, knew a lot of popular girls. The few of them who were open-minded were helping out a TON.

"Other than that, I've started making fliers to put in mailboxes around the neighborhood, and here at school. Oh! I almost forgot-" she said, her excitement growing. "The school paper said I could do an article, and the (whatever Pittsburgh's newspaper is) said that they'd do a short article on us to raise awareness of our cause."

Cynthia, who loved journalism, knew tons of people at the local paper. She was glad when they had agreed to write an article for them.

[Desmond Giuseppe]

"Good good good good good!"said Desmond quickly with a smile. He was so glad that he had Cynthia on his side. He was good at running the club, but he couldn't do it all and Cynthia always seemed to remember everything he would forget. "You're right. I think we've got the support of most of the GSA parents. I know my mom already said she'll volunteer at the show. She suggested a bake sale, but I think that idea is just so over done a such a typical fund raising thing to do." Desmond giggled before telling Cynthia the next part.

"I forget to tell you," he began, "I have organized a raffle. The Sex Shop on Liberty Avenue was kind enough to donate some items of interest. Nothing to hard care mind you; mostly penis and boob shaped candy and stuff you'd find at Spencer's. I was thinking we could raffle them off. The tickets would be a two dollars and the shop owner gave me a HUGE box of condoms we can use for the tickets. ((I actually went to something like this at school the past week)) I know it's not exactly school appropriate, but it's not going to be at school and sex is just part of life, they can deal. It's no worse than Prudence calling me a fagot every chance she gets."

Then Cynthia mentioned something about the news paper. "OooOOooo! Do I get to have my picture in the news paper?" Desmond asked with excitement. He never read the news paper himself, but it was still cool to think his picture would be in some type of publication.